1 Photoexcitation Induced Quantum Dynamics of Charge Density Wave and Emergence of a Collective Mode in 1T-TaS2 Jin Zhang,1,2 Chao Lian,1 Mengxue Guan, 1,2, Wei Ma,1,2 Huixia Fu,1,2 and Sheng Meng1,2,3* 1Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China 2School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China 3Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100190, P. R. China J.Z., C.L. and M.G. contribute equally to this work. *Corresponding author: Sheng Meng (
[email protected]) 2 Abstract Photoexcitation is a powerful means in distinguishing different interactions and manipulating the states of matter, especially in complex quantum systems. As a well-known charge density wave (CDW) material, 1T-TaS2 has been widely studied experimentally thanks to its intriguing photoexcited responses. However, the microscopic atomic dynamics and underlying mechanism are still under debate. Here, we demonstrate photoexcitation induced ultrafast dynamics in 1T-TaS2 using time-dependent density functional theory molecular dynamics. We discover a novel collective mode induced by photodoping, which is significantly different from thermally-induced phonon mode in TaS2. In addition, our finding validates nonthermal melting of CDW induced at low light intensities, supporting that conventional hot electron model is inadequate to explain photoinduced dynamics. Our results provide a deep insight on coherent electron and lattice quantum dynamics during the formation and excitation of CDW in 1T-TaS2. Key words:Charge density wave, TDDFT, Photoinduced Phase transition, 2D Materials, Nonadiabatic Dynamics 3 Introduction Interplay among different degrees of freedom including electrons, phonons and spins is of paramount importance in understanding and optimizing the properties of quantum materials.1-3 Optical excitation is a powerful tool to distinguish different interactions and to manipulate the state of matter.